Clara Tauson dedicated her second WTA 1,000 semifinal of her career to her late grandfather, revealing that he had passed away during her run in Montreal at the Canadian Open.
“Two days ago, my grandfather unfortunately passed away, so I really wanted to win for him today,” said the 22-year-old Dane, after beating Australian Open champion and No. 6 seed Madison Keys 6-1, 6-4.
Tauson, the world No. 19, was as clinical against Keys as she was in beating world No. 3 Iga Świątek in the previous round. She saved all three break points that she faced, including two during the opening game of the match, which could have set a very different tone had Keys taken them. Instead Tauson broke Keys at 2-1 and 4-1; she then served out the first set to love on a dominant run of seven games in a row, including a break of serve in the first game of the second.
Tauson will face the resurgent Naomi Osaka in the semifinals, who dispatched world No. 13 Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 to continue her “new manager bounce” with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, the former coach of Świątek. Bar one wobble when serving for the opening set at 5-1, Osaka eased through a tricky assignment against one of the most difficult opponents on the WTA Tour. The win pushes her into the top 32 of the WTA rankings, putting Osaka in line to be seeded at the U.S. Open if results go her way in Canada and then at the Cincinnati Open.
The winner of Tauson and Osaka’s clash will face either Canadian wild card Victoria Mboko or 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. The semifinals are Aug. 6, with the final played Aug. 7, on a Thursday. Aug. 7 is also the opening day of the Cincinnati Open. If Mboko and Osaka win their semifinals, they will receive a performance bye into the second round of Cincinnati to avoid the tight turnaround between the Canadian Open final and the opening round of the Ohio event.
(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
Aug 6, 2025Connections: Sports Edition
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